Milwaukee, Wisconsin Businesses Use Cohn Legal for Trademark Services
Serving Milwaukee, Wisconsin companies, Cohn Legal, PLLC is committed to providing outstanding legal counsel and expertise on trademark law to their clients. Our trademark attorneys absolutely love helping companies protect their brand names and logos. While excellence in legal representation is a given, we take greater pride in our ability to forge lasting bonds with our clients.
Top 8 Questions Milwaukee Businesses Have About Obtaining a Trademark
How can a trademark attorney help me enforce my trademark rights?
An attorney can help you understand your trademark rights and advise you on the best way to monitor and enforce those rights. A trademark attorney can provide counsel if you discover other parties are using and infringing your trademark or if other trademark owners claim that you are infringing their trademarks. An attorney can also help ensure that all required trademark renewal documents are timely and accurately filed, so you are never at risk of losing your mark.
Will my trademark ever expire?
As long as you continue to use your trademark in commerce and meet renewal deadlines set by the USPTO, your registered trademark will never expire. For new trademarks, the first renewal will take place after approximately 5 years from the date of registration, every 10 years after that. If you miss a deadline, then your mark could be cancelled, so you may want to consider hiring a trademark attorney who can help you stay on top of the renewals.
Am I allowed to file a trademark if I’m not yet selling my product or service?
If you want to file a trademark before you’re ready to bring your goods or services to market, then you can do so with an Intent-To-Use (ITU) trademark application.
Assuming the ITU Trademark Application has been accepted, you will receive a Notice of Allowance (NOA). That means you have 6 months to submit your Statement of Use with proof of your trademark in commerce to the USPTO. If you’re still not ready to bring your product to market, then you can file for an extension. Consult with a trademark attorney if you are interested in filing an ITU trademark application.
What is a Trademark Office Action?
If your trademark application is rejected, then you’ll receive an Office Action, which lists the reasons that your trademark application was rejected. There could be several reasons why your trademark may be rejected. For example, if it’s too similar to an existing trademark, you failed to provide an important piece of information on your application, or your specimen is not sufficient.
If you receive an Office Action, then you should not ignore it. Contact a trademark attorney as soon as possible. Your attorney can advise you on what to do next and draft a response to the USPTO if needed.
What is TEAS?
TEAS (Trademark Electronic Application System) is an online portal where you can submit your trademark application to the United States Patent and Trademark Office and pay your application fees.
How much it cost to submit a trademark application?
The USPTO offers three different types of applications to choose from when registering your trademarks. Each has its own fee:
1. The TEAS Plus Filing option is $225 per class of goods or services.
2. The TEAS Reduced Fee option is $275 per class of goods or services.
3. The TEAS Regular Filing option is $400 per class of goods or services.
Contact a trademark attorney who can explain what each filing option entails and recommend which one you should pursue.
What is the Official Gazette?
The Official Gazette (OG) is a USPTO publication that is released on a weekly basis. It includes information about the latest trademarks that have been approved. Once a trademark is published in the Official Gazette, any individual has 30 days to come forward and oppose the trademark. If no one opposes the trademark, then it is officially registered.
Do I need to conduct a trademark search before filing my application?
There’s no law or requirement to conduct a trademark search before filing an application, but it’s something that we recommend. The reason is, if someone registers a similar trademark to yours with the USPTO before you do, that can prevent your trademark from being registered.
Why Trademark Registration Matters for Milwaukee Businesses
There’s plenty for tourists and residents to do in Milwaukee. Milwaukee is popularly known for its breweries, most of which offer grand tours chronicling its role and contributions in the beer industry, This is the main attraction. In addition, there are new shops, restaurants, and boutique hotels popping up all over Milwaukee.
New business owners have plenty of reasons to set up shop in Milwaukee, but they should also remember to register their trademarks with the USPTO. Skipping that step could be a costly error.
Imagine the following: Jessie and William are two friends that decide to go into business together. They pool their money and purchase a rental property in the University of Wisconsin neighborhood of Milwaukee. Their plan is to renovate the property and rent it out to students that attend the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. They set up an LLC and call the business J&W Properties.
They discuss the idea of registering the name of their business as a trademark with the USPTO. But with all of the work ahead of them, they decide to put it off. They figure there’ll be plenty of time to take care of that detail in the future.
Just 3 weeks before the start of the fall semester, the friends receive a cease-and-desist letter in the mail. It turns out that another rental property owner in the area has the name J&W Rental Properties and it’s registered with the USPTO.
They’re asking Jessie and William to stop operating under the name J&W properties because it’s too similar to J&W Rental Properties. The 2 friends are devastated and confused. They decide to contact a trademark attorney to determine what their best course of action is.
If you are opening a new business or growing an existing one, make sure you register your trademark as soon as possible.
If you have questions about trademark registration, then contact the attorneys at Cohn Legal for a no-cost trademark consultation.
** Cohn Legal, PLLC is not located in Milwaukee and yet it can assist businesses from Wisconsin in registering a federal Trademark because trademarks are governed under federal law.